The two-day GST Council meet on 28th and 29th of June in Chandigarh is likely to deliberate upon a various agenda. The main aim will be to ease compliance burden, promote small businesses and increase tax collection by enhancing tax rates and tax base.

Ease compliance burden:

Some of the bottlenecks which are the council is likely to discuss are –

• Allow composition dealers with respect to interstate supply of goods via E-Commerce Portal. Presently, as per the provisions of the act, a composition dealer cannot make supply of goods from one state to another. However, for supply via E-Commerce portal, such restriction may be ceased.
• Amendments to GSTR-3B the monthly GST return to be filed by taxpayers among others.
• GSTR-3B may have a separate column to show amendments pertaining to previous periods. Presently as per the law, a registered person may make amendments with respect to ITC and Outward Supply for a given financial year upto due date of GSTR-3B for the month of September of the succeeding year. However, there is no separate column to show such figures and the such amendment figures gets merged with the figures of the period for which GSTR3B is being filed. Such a situation causes confusion between trade and department as to which figure relates to amendments and which figure relates to inward and outward supply for the said period.

The Government is planning to launch six invoice registration portals in the next six months to provide adequate backend IT infrastructure to handle the e-invoice load.

The Council is also likely to allow the usage of the government-run National Informatics Centre (NIC) as another platform to register e-invoices

Increase tax collection by enhancing tax rates and tax base

• The GST Council may empower both the Centre and the states to issue show-cause notices despite whether the taxpayer falls in their jurisdiction or not.
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Services Offered By FSSAI To Food Biz Operators
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Services Offered By GSTN To Govt
• May Propose 12% GST On Hotel Accommodation Below Rs1,000/Unit
• May Propose 5% GST (Without ITC) On Hospital Rooms With Daily Rent Of Rs 5,000 (Ex-ICU)
• May propose Withdrawing Exemption Granted To Cord Blood Banks
• May propose Removing Exemption On Renting Of Religious Place For General Public If Rent >Rs 5,000/Day
• May propose Removing Exemption On Shops Where Rent Exceeds Rs 2,500/Mth
• May Propose Hiking GST On E-Waste From 5% To 18%
• Map Propose Removing Goods Related To Petroleum/Coal Bed Methane From Lower 5% Bracket
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Reinsurance Of Exempted Insurance Schemes
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Biz Class Travel From Airports In NE States
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Transport Of Newspapers, Magazines, Railway Equipment
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Services Offered By RBI
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Services Offered By IRDA To Insurers
• May Propose Withdrawing Exemptions On Services Provided By SEBI
• May Propose Correcting Inverted Duty Structure On Tailoring & Other Job Works For Textiles From 5% To 12%
• May Recommend Withdrawing GST Exemption On Packaged Curd, Lassi, Butter Milk
• May Recommend Withdrawing GST Exemption On Puffed Rice, Flattened Rice, Parched Rice
• May Recommend Withdrawing GST Exemption On Papad, Paneer, Honey, Food Grains, Cereals
• May Recommend Withdrawing GST Exemption On Jaggery, Certain Vegetables
• May Propose Reviewing GST Exemptions, Re-Fitting Commodities Based On Suitable Rates
• May Propose 5% GST On Unroasted Coffee Beans, Unprocessed Green Leaves Of Tea
• May Propose 5% GST On Wheat Bran, De-Oiled Rice bran
• May Propose Removing Exemptions On Cheque Leaves & Books, GST Rate Of 18%
• Any GST Council Decision Must Take Public Perception Into Consideration
• GST Exemptions Were Given After Serious Thought, Any Review Needs Careful Consideration
• Exemptions On Sensitive Items Like Hearing Aids, Bread, Tractors, Edu Institutions Should Continue
• Likely To Propose Disallowing Input Tax Credit Refunds On Edible Oils On A/c Of Inverted Rates
• May Propose Inverted Duty Correction On Printing, Writing/ Drawing Ink From 12% To 18%
• May Propose Correcting Inverted Duty Structure On LED Lights, Fixtures, LED Lamps From 12% To 18%
• May Propose Correcting Inverted Duty Structure On Solar Water Heater & Systems From 5% To 12%
• May Propose Correcting Inverted Duty Structure On Finished Leather, Composition Leather From 5% To 12%
• May Propose Correcting Inverted Duty Structure On Works Contract Supplied To Govt From 5% To 12%